Tears of A Savior
by Faceless Charmer
Summary: Eren liked to destroy things, and Jean was pretty sure it was because Eren could remember a violent past life. The two boys embark on an quest to find their friends from a long time passed. MxM. JeanxEren and other couples you won't see coming.
1. Anger

**So, my actual SNK OTP is probably Jean and Armin, or Jearmin, as I like to call them. And I'm probably not the only one. I'm not that smart. But the other day, I was sitting around, and I found myself wondering what Jean and Eren would be like if they were in a relationship together, and then I couldn't get it out of my head, so I need to write a small fanfiction for them, or it'll never leave me alone. I even tried to convince myself to make this story Jearmin, but I just couldn't make myself want to do it.**

**So, my first AOT FF will be a Jearen.**

**And yes, I'm aware I called it both SNK and AOT.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Shingeki no Kyojin, of course. **

**And, in case you somehow made it this far without realizing story contains two boys in love.**

**Please enjoy this story!**

* * *

Jean was used to coming home and finding the house more than a little wrecked. Destroyed was the word he should probably use. It looked like a tornado had blown through four days a week. He'd usually find Eren upstairs, burning something in the bathroom sink or tub. What he burned it in depended on the size of the thing he was burning. If it was just some paper, or something small, like a toilet paper roll, he would burn it in the sink. But if it was something larger, like a chair leg, he would burn it in the tub. Jean would come in, and find him staring at the flame he was creating, staring into the burning flames like he saw something there.

Jean was pretty sure he knew what he was seeing.

The same things he saw at night.

So, one day, he came home and found that Eren had definitely had a bad day, and tossed a few things around. He automatically headed to the upstairs bathroom, but to his surprise, Eren was not in there.

"What the hell?" he mumbled, ruffling a had through his hair, and beginning a search around the house. It didn't take him long to find his boyfriend, he was in the third place he looked. Their bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed, watching TV like nothing had happened. Well, that was usually the case, regardless of where Jean found Eren. He would get Eren's attention, and Eren would act like nothing had happened, and he never stopped him, because he wasn't exactly sure what to do about it. He loved Eren, and he wasn't going to leave him. No, he'd help him through it, for as long as he needed too, even if it was forever.

"Have a bad day?" he asked, and Eren looked away from the show he'd been watching, and shrugged.

"I guess. I'm over it."

Jean smirked. "You're over it, huh? Is that why you're watching the fascinating Minnie Pink?" Minnie Pink was a TV show. To be more specific, it was a child's show, used to teach you how to count and share. Eren wouldn't be watching it if he was stable.

Eren looked back the TV, and stared at the screen for a few seconds, as if to confirm what Jean had said was true. Then he glared at it like it had betrayed him, and after a could seconds, turned his glare to Jean, "Shut up, Horse Face."

Jean only continued teasing, "If you need help with your counting, you can just ask me for help. You don't have to do it secretly." At this point, Eren had gotten up off the bed, and was coming over. He punched Jean in the shoulder, but after the initial hit, he kept his hand there. Jean put his hand on top of Eren's, and then pulled him into a hug, trying to pass it off as just a casual hug after a few hours of being apart.

But he felt Eren shaking, light as it may be, so he hugged him a little harder, and kissed him gently, a contradiction, because he wasn't sure if Eren wanted him to be strong or gentle in moments such as these.

Some times, Eren would go weeks without an episode, but eventually, they always came back, and with a vengeance.

Eren liked to destroy things.

Eren liked to destroy things, and Jean was pretty sure it was because Eren could remember a violent past life.

*(*)

He knew it sounded stupid, but he'd been with Eren for years, and known him his whole life, and after years of observing, how else could he explain these things? Things such as Eren calling the names of people in his sleep, people he'd never heard of, but felt like he too, knew them. Armin, Mikasa, Levi, Connie, Sasha, Annie, and on and on. The names were endless. And he never said them quietly, like they were just people passing through in a dream. Eren always screamed them, as if he was watching them die, or some other horrible thing.

The name he called the most, was Mom. Night after night, Jean would wake to Eren screaming, "MOM!" Then the brunette would wake up, tears in his eyes, and cry like he'd, well, just watched his own mother die. And there was no way Jean could tell him it wasn't real, not after seeing the fear and pain in Eren's eyes, night after night. All he could do though, was hold the brunette tightly, and kiss him gently, whispering quietly until he fell back asleep.

Jean tried to help Eren remember the memories more clearly, hoping that if they pieced it back together, it would give him peace. But Eren couldn't remember many specific things, just names. Only at night, did he apparently see things vividly, and when he woke, he could never remember exactly what he saw.

There were both pretty sure they knew what he was seeing.

*(*)

One night, he woke up to Eren's usual name screaming, but this time, the name was not one Eren had called before, but definitely one Jean knew.

It was his own.

"Jean!" Eren had screamed, and he woke up, expecting to find some robber at the foot of their bed, and his boyfriend was calling for help. But he should have known that wasn't the case, because Eren was more than capable of taking on a robber all on his own. Instead, he found Eren waking from another nightmare, tears in his eyes. The two boys lay in silence for a moment, before they made eye contact.

"Did I...die?" Jean whispered, and Eren gulped heavily.

"I...I woke up...before I could see."

And Jean wasn't sure if he believed him or not. But he didn't push it, because Eren was climbing on top of him, and straddling him, and kissing him vigorously, like he was trying to distract himself, and Jean rolled with it, because he wanted to be distracted too. They pulled off each others clothes, kissing with teeth and tongues and spit, and Eren even drew a little blood by scratching his nails down Jean's back.

It was the hottest night the two had ever had, and Jean was horrified by that.

*(*)

Then, one night, it wasn't Eren who woke up screaming names of people Jean believed were long dead.

It was himself.

He woke, sweating, and unable to remember whose name he'd even called, or if it was actually even a name at all. The dream wasn't even clear to him. But he knew there had been blood, and pain, and unimaginable grief and horror. Eren was awake too, and looking at him, and he whispered, "Did you see them too?"

And Jean couldn't remember, it was so blurry. People, places, smiling faces that turned to screams. Was this what Eren kept seeing? Jean suddenly saw the appeal in tearing the house apart.

"I saw them."

*(*)

Jean looked into a little, and he found something astonishing.

Long, long, ago, there had been a time when the world had been over run by Titans, creatures that appeared from nowhere, and ate humans for seemingly no reason. He'd heard of the war against the Titans, and he was used to hearing Eren screaming that word at night too, but that was not the astonishing thing he found. He found only one book about that dark time, because it been long ago, and a lot of it's records had been destroyed.

Buried in the book, was the name of the boy who had saved humanity.

Eren Yeager. A Titan Shifter.

There was no picture. Technology had been eradicated during that time, due to some memory erasing whatever, but Jean had a pretty good idea what this Eren Yeager would look like.

There were other names too, names of people who had had an important part in saving humanity against Titans and corrupt government.

Names he knew.

Mikasa Ackerman.

Levi Ackerman.

Armin Arlert.

Connie Springer.

Sasha Brouse.

Marco Bott.

Erwin Smith.

Krista Lenz

Jean Kirschtein.

His own name.

His name, and many others.

He stole the book from the library, to take home to Eren.

*(*)

Eren looked up from the pages of the book. "I was a...Titan." he said slowly. Jean nodded.

"Not just you. Annie, Reiner, Ymir." They were all names they knew. They read the book together, not coming out of their house for days, rejoicing as things came back to them. For the first time, Jean saw Eren looking truly rested, when they woke up in the morning. Of course, it wasn't all easy going. The things they read were bloody and violent, but they kept going, because it was all starting to come together.

When the finished, and closed the book, Eren turned to him, and Jean barely had time to open his mouth before Eren was kissing him, tears streaming down his face. Jean felt his own tears mix in.

"I love you." Eren whispered.

"I love you too."

He was so happy that he had found Eren again.

*(*)

That night, Jean woke to Eren's voice.

"Let's go find them."

Jean turned toward him, and saw the fire in his eyes. It was silent, and Jean knew he didn't have to vocally agree, but he did it anyway, grabbing Eren's hand, and saying, "Okay."

*(*)

They sat at the airport, bags packed, hand in hand, waiting for their flight to arrive. They had no leads, no clues at all, but Eren had said they needed to go to Japan, and England, and Germany, and many other places.

"How do you know they're there?" Jean asked, and Eren looked out the large window where you could see the planes, and looked out at the sky.

"Can't you hear them, Jean? They're looking for us too."

* * *

**Abrupt ending for the win!**

**I hoped you liked it. I suppose I am fond of it, and am pleased with the result. **

**And yes, I know that in the manga, Eren has black hair. I'm reading the manga too. So let's just agree he has dark hair and call it a night.**

**This might not get many reviews, or any at all, because I know JeanxEren isn't a huge ship, but I'm just glad to have written it.**


	2. Nothing

_Here's me realizing too late that if this story takes place far in the future, it's highly unlikely that all those places are still called Germany, Japan, and what not. Ah...gues we'll just say that after everyone finally got all their records back, they kept the names. But maybe the shapes are different._

_Each chapter will be told from a different character's point of view, but fear not, the JeanxEren couple you apparently enjoyed enough to read chapter two will return often. _

_Alright, another gay couple in this one, and you won't guess who it is. _

_(Or, maybe you will)_

_(I don't know.)_

_Either way, I like the idea of these two as a couple. Enough that I'm going to make it happen. I wasn't sure at first, but then when I asked my sister who Armin (the chapter's about Armin, by the way) should get together with, she said the same thing I was thinking. _

_Surely, this is fate. _

**Chapter 2**

Armin wasn't sure what was wrong with him. Days passed, and he felt empty. It was like he was missing many things, and no matter how long he looked, and wandered, he could never find the missing things. He _felt_ like he had nightmares, but come morning time, he could never remember what it was he'd seen. During the day, he'd slip into dazes, where something terrible was on the very edge of his memory. He'd chase shadows in his mind, but he could never catch them.

Empty. That was all he was. He'd watch movies, read many books, and try his best to get involved. He'd talk to the kids in his class, and try to feel something. But he just couldn't. His parents took him to counseling, once they realized just how serious this problem was, how empty he really was. They thought there was something wrong with him, something in his brain that made him unresponsive.

Some doctors and psychiatrists suggested that he was mildly autistic. Whether he was or not, he didn't really care.

It wasn't that he didn't love the things around him. He loved his parents. He loved his dog. He loved them, but something about them wasn't right.

What was missing from his life?

He thought he'd never know.

And then one day, in high school, when he was sixteen years old, a couple of bullies had him trapped against a wall, and were taunting him, pushing him against the wall, laughing at him, even though he wasn't doing anything to make them laugh. Not fighting back, not yelling, or crying, or anything. He was bleeding from the nose, and was wiping the blood away as they called him a retard.

"Come on retard, say something!" one of the bullies demanded.

"Yeah, do something, you freak!"

"Don't you know how to speak?"

Of course he knew how to speak. He just didn't do it often, anymore. When he was much younger, back before the world started to feel empty, he used to love talking, telling stories. He told stories to his friends and family all the time, stories he made up, about the war against the Titans long, long ago. But the stories must have been bad, because people asked him to stop telling them. He couldn't really remember the stories anymore, but it was around that time that everything started to lose meaning.

Some part of Armin was telling him to fight back, because he _could_. But that was ridiculous. Armin had never learned to fight. He would get pummeled into the ground.

"Hey!" a voice suddenly shouted, and Armin finished wiping the blood from his face just in time to catch a boy running toward them. He was moving too quick for Armin to get a good look at his face, and within seconds, the boy was fighting all three of Armin's tormentors. Armin watched, thinking surely, the boy would lose. Three against one? Not good odds.

But as he watched, the boy continued to not only maintain fighting all three, but also seemed to be winning. His fighting skill was something Armin hadn't seen before...and yet...maybe he had?

As quick as it had begun, it was over, the three bullies running off, their skin and egos bruised. Once they were gone, the boy turned around to face Armin.

"Hey, are you okay?" the other boy asked as he turned, and when they met eye to eye, Armin felt something inside of him...click. For the first time in his life...he was feeling something. But what was it? The boy looked back, and Armin saw that he looked a little amazed too. Armin was sure he must be feeling the same thing.

That somehow, they knew each other.

He was shorter than Armin, but not by much. His head was shaved close to the scalp, in a military type fashion. And his smile was large, and his eyes said joker.

"I'm okay." Armin responded, still awed.

"You look a little banged up." the other boy said, coming closer and dusting Armin off.

"It's just a little blood." Armin said, taking a napkin the boy produced from his pocket. After he finished wiping off the blood, the two boys stared at each other in silence, and Armin could feel something building. Staring at this boy, he didn't feel empty.

"What's...what's your name?" Armin asked. That was the first time that he could remember being interested enough in anyone to ask their name.

"Connie." the boy held out his hand, and Armin, for the first time in a very long time, held out his hand to shake back. When their hands met, Armin felt it again. A feeling. He couldn't say what feeling, because it had been so long since he felt them.

But, it was almost as if he had held this hand before.

"And you're..." Connie prompted, after Armin had been silent long enough to make it awkward.

"Armin."

"Armin." Connie repeated the name, and tilted his head, biting his lip, looking like he was trying to remember something. "Have we...met?"

The blond shook his head. "I...I don't think so."

It was silent another second as each boy stared another moment, trying to place this familiar face. Finally, Connie shrugged.

"Well, it's good to meet you then! Hey, want to come over to my house and hang out?"

Nobody ever asked Armin to hang out.

And even when they did, (which they didn't do a lot) he never said yes.

But, staring into Connie's eyes, and feeling...well...anything...Armin couldn't say no. He nodded.

"Yes."

*(*)

And then, it was like the emptiness inside of him slowly drained away. Not completely though. It was still inside of him now. But, he could laugh, like when Connie told a joke, or tickled him.

He could feel happy whenever Connie touched his hand briefly. Or let it linger. Or brushed his finger's through Armin's soft hair.

He could scream whenever Connie dragged him to a scary movie. Or when Connie cheated while playing video games.

His heart could pound in excitement when, after many months of a slowly building relationship, Connie kissed him, on a quiet street, under a streetlamp.

He could cry the day in sophomore year, when Connie told him he was moving away, because without Connie, he would be empty again.

And he could cry again, this time tears of joy, when Connie came back to him, and it was like the last year of emptiness had never happened, like Connie had never left, and nothing had changed.

With Connie by his side, it was like their was color in a world that had been black and white. Every kiss filled him with emotion, and every night of passion brought on more feelings that he was capable of handling.

Sure, there was still some small part of him that felt...empty.

But he was easier to ignore now.

Easier to forget.

With Connie, life was beautiful.

With Connie, life felt like...

Life.

*(*)

And now, that he had Connie, he felt something else new.

It was like their was something inside of him...that was calling. And he didn't know who, or what, he was calling, but he felt it out there.

And he felt them calling back.

*(*)

One day, senior year, Armin and Connie were at lunch, sitting alone together at their table outdoor, when they heard the voice of one of the campus security monitors.

"Excuse me boys, but if you're not students here, you have to go and get a visitors pass."

Someone said something back, but it sounded to Armin like they were speaking a different language.

"Oh, do you not...speak our language?"

The voice replied again, or maybe it was a different one, but they were still speaking a different language. Not really all that interested, Armin tried to place it, working through the different languages he'd been reading about.

"Sir! You can't be in here without a visitor's pass!"

Whoever the campus security was talking to was ignoring them, that much was certain. They were being loud enough that people were beginning to look over in curiousity. Connie leaned over and whispered, "I think we might have a situation on our hands."

Armin sighed. He hated conflict. "If so, let's get out of here before we get caught in the crossfire."

The two boys stood up, ready to make an exit, when the voice spoke again, louder, having entered the courtyard.

"Armin!"

Armin stopped, frozen in his movement for a second. When that voice had been speaking a different language, he hadn't felt anything. But now, as it said his name...he felt the way he did the day he met Connie. Like something inside him had been lit.

He turned around, and met the eyes of a boy, who was a few years older than Armin, with brunette hair, and vibrant teal eyes. Next to him was another boy, with hair different shades of some sort of blond and black.

Both were staring at him and Connie. In fact, the other boy spoke now.

"Connie?" was the word that came out of his mouth, and Connie looked closely at the two of them.

Connie spoke first, out of the two of them.

"J...J..." he stumbled over his words for a moment, as he tried to put something together. "Jean?"

The taller of the strange boys smiled, and nodded, and Armin's attention went back to the other boy. He was smiling ear to ear, and he came running over quickly. Armin and Connie raced to meet them, and before he could stop himself, Armin was launching himself into the arms of the brown haired boy.

"Eren!" the name erupted from his mouth, and the tears were just as sudden.

"Armin!" Eren said back, and Armin could feel tears soaking his hair. Eren was crying too. Connie was hugging Jean too, but Armin didn't think they were crying. But he had too. Eren was his_ best_ friend.

"How did you find us?" Armin asked. It was like a switch had been flipped. Things that he'd never known before, were suddenly there, like they always had been. Eren and Jean probably thought he'd had his memory the whole time. He'd tell them the truth later.

At his words, Eren looked confused. Of course, Eren didn't speak his language. Armin struggled for a second, before switching to a language that none of them had heard, or spoken, for a long, long, time.

"How did you find us?"

Eren's eyes lite, and after a moment where he too, gathered his words, he spoke, in the same strong, determined voice Armin now remembered.

"I followed the feeling inside me."

Armin didn't ask for anymore explanation. He looked at the boy next to Eren.

"Jean." He hugged the other boy tightly, and Jean reciprocated the motion.

"It's good to see you, Armin."

"Why are you guys older than us?" Connie complained, making everyone laugh.

"Eren...it's been...so hard."

Eren nodded. "For me too, Armin." he nodded at Jean. "Ask him."

Jean rolled his eyes with a nod, and Armin smiled. He was glad to see that even in this life, Jean and Eren had managed to find each other.

"Hey, Connie and you still have a thing?" Eren asked, and Connie grinned and pulled Armin in to him.

"Of course. I would never abandon him!"

People were still looking, because the campus security was still telling them that they needed to get out, but everyone was ignoring that.

"You have to come with us." Eren said. "To find the others."

Connie nodded right away, and Armin only hesitated a second as he considered school. But school could wait. He only needed a couple more credits, and he could easily make them up.

"Okay." he said, grabbing Connie's hand, and smiling as Eren did the same to Jean.

They were going to find the others.

Mikasa.

Levi.

Sasha.

All of them.

He wouldn't be empty anymore.

He would finally be whole.

* * *

_Yep, ConniexArmin!_

_Carmin! _

_Okay, so yes, I'm saying that these couples had been in love in the previous lives as well. And yes, ages differ. I hoped you liked the chapter. Sorry, the title no longer makes sense, I guess, unless we concur that all of the characters were heros. I'll just have to include a lot of crying. _


	3. Guilt

_So yeah, I totally, totally forgot this story existed. But then I was going through my fanfiction, cause okay, fine, I like re-reading my own stuff, when I saw this. I'm upset I forgot, because at the time, I'd totally liked this story. Totally._

_There's no way you're gonna see this next couple coming. Never in a million, gazillion, mactillion years. You die hard fans of a certain character, and die hard haters of the other character will probably even hate me for this. I could be flamed so hard Satan goes running._

_I guess...we'll see._

**Chapter 3: Guilt**

Annie lived alone. After turning eighteen, she'd gone, determined to hide herself away from the rest of the world. She got an apartment, and a job, and she only left that apartment to go to that job. She didn't make any friends at work, and she had none at school, so nobody ever visited, or called, or checked up on her, except for her mother and father, and sometimes her older brother, who had moved away years ago.

She knew she attracted a lot of attention. She was tall, and blonde, and strong. She was beautiful. On the outside. To them. The strangers that didn't know about her.

And what she'd done.

She didn't deserve friends. Nobody should care for her, after everything she'd done.

Annie remembered her past life, where she'd been a titan shifter, long ago. She remembered Riener, and Bert, and Eren, and Armin. She remembered them all. She remembered everything she had done. All of those people who died because of what she, and the others, had done.

It had been a cause she'd believed in, at the time. She'd honestly, from the bottom of her heart, thought what she had been doing was the right course of action. Of course, that hadn't stopped her from feeling small pangs of guilt, every now and again. Like when Eren very briefly, and only for a few seconds, recounted what had been like when the titans had come, and knocked down the wall, and his mother had perished. Or when she'd seen the pain and anger in Levi's eyes, after she'd slaughtered what she later learned was his squad, filled with people he cared about. She'd been afraid, terrified, as he'd attacked, and of course she would have killed him if she'd been givin the chance. But that hadn't stopped her from seeing how hurt he was, in the split seconds she saw him during his lightning fast onslaught. The viciousness that he'd attacked with was a testament to it. The pain he'd felt...the cold fury she'd seen in his eyes, mixed in with that heartbreak…

She'd never forget.

But there was a moment; a moment after Eren, but before Levi, that she could never forget. That plagued her at least once a day. A moment she saw when she closed her eyes...His face would fill her mind, until he was all she could think about. The way he'd looked at her, pleadingly, desperately, as she'd just stood there, motionless, watching in stunned silence, as he was knocked down, and sabotaged, and dragged away by the enormous hand of a titan...

Marco.

She'd never had the chance to apologize, to explain herself to him. He'd only been in the wrong place at the wrong time. And he'd died for it. She could have stopped it. Couldn't she? If she'd said something, to Riener, to Bert, would they have stopped? Or would they have ignored her? She'd never, never know.

_I'm sorry._ She wanted to say it so badly. She whispered it, at night in the dark, in the morning light, as the shower water ran down her naked body._ Please forgive me._

She'd wanted to save him so badly, as she'd watched the tears fall down his frightened and uncomprehending face. But if she saved him, let him live, he'd tell the others for sure, and their cover would be blown. And they might have then had to kill all of them. One had to be sacrificed...to save the rest.

For the time being, anyway.

_I'm sorry!_ She should have screamed it at him, before he'd died. She should have…

Should have.

She should have done a lot of things.

*(*)

One day, Annie forgot to go shopping for that night's dinner, as she usually always did on Tuesday night. She'd already showered, and gotten into her nightclothes when she realized it, and she didn't want to get changed back.

So she decided to call out.

She ordered out, and then sat down on her couch, sitting silently as she waited for the delivery boy. Only ten minutes later, there was a knock on her apartment door. She went to answer it, opening the door. Without really looking at him, she waved in the delivery boy, and told him to put the food down anywhere while she went to go grab the money he was owed.

As she walked away, she heard him speak.

"This is a very nice apartment." he said, his tone friendly. She didn't think he was lying. Something about his voice though...made her think. He sounded familar. Maybe they had gone to school together at some point.

"Thanks." She grabbed the money, and started to count it first, to make sure it was all there. Behind her, the delivery boy spoke again.

"Thanks for letting me wait inside. It's very cold outside."

This time, it hit her. Why he sounded so familiar. She stopped counting her money, frozen in place, eyes widening in disbelief. There was no way...It couldn't be…

It just _couldn't be. _

"Miss, are you alright?" asked the delivery boy, after she hadn't moved for at least ten seconds. She listened hard as he spoke, trying to convince herself that maybe she had just imagined it, out of guilt. But hearing it again, she was sure.

"Miss?" he repeated worriedly.

She heard him start to walk towards her, probably pulling his phone out to call an ambulance. She slowly turned, taking in his face. A face she'd never thought she'd see again. The last time she'd seen that face, he'd been crying, and begging her for help…

"Mar...co?" she whispered, and he stopped walking. His eyes were still the ones she remembered, and his face was still covered in freckles. Maybe his hair was a shade lighter, (maybe he'd dyed it) but it was undeniably him. He looked back at her, silent, and she wondered if he remembered her, or if he just thought she was some girl he couldn't remember from school.

"Annie!" he gasped, his eyes growing wide, and it took her breath away. He remembered her. Which meant he remembered what she had done to him.

For a split second, he looked like he might run, and she wouldn't have blamed him one bit, but he stayed. Probably because it wasn't every day you ran into someone from your past life.

"Marco." she gasped out, and suddenly, she was on her knees, covering her face as tears spilled down her cheeks like a waterfall. "I'm so sorry!" she sobbed, her body shaking. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" The years of guilt she'd carried came pouring out of her, and she couldn't stop.

Not until she felt a hand touch her shoulder gently, and then found herself wrapped tightly in a hug. And even that only stopped her for a second. Once she comprehended that Marco was hugging her, it only made her cry harder.

*(*)

She thought about running. About moving away. Because ever since they'd found each other, ever since he listened to her, and forgave her, he'd started to come, every day. And it reminded her every day of the guilt she'd felt all this life and the last. But the way he smiled at her, as they were talking, the way he glowed…

It kept her there.

They didn't talk much, about the life before. Every time he took her outside, they would just walk together, and talk about something unrelated. The weather. Her job. The life he was currently living. Eventually, they started going other places, like the park, or even the movies. Sometimes out to eat. She told herself they weren't dates, because even if he forgave her, there was no way Marco would date her, the girl who'd watched, and even helped kill him.

But then, one day, he grabbed her hand, as they were walking. She stopped walking, and looked at their now intertwined fingers. He waited for her response. Her heart picked up speed, for probably the first time in her life. (At least the first time for something like this) She looked into his eyes, and he smiled. And the same way that smile had stopped her from moving away, it stopped her from pulling her hand away.

*(*)

He moved in a few months later. It hadn't really been talked about, wasn't something they'd agreed on. She'd just opened her door to him standing there, lugging bags behind him. She didn't ask what he was doing, because she'd known.

Annie moved out of the way, and he came in.

That first night would forever be fresh in her memory. Annie's apartment only had one bedroom, and only one bed, just big enough for the both of them.

"Do you mind?" he'd asked, motioning to the bed. Since there really wasn't anywhere else for him to sleep, (besides the sofa) and because she secretly wanted him too, Annie shook her head. She got in after him, pulling the blankets over them, as he switched out the lights. He wrapped his arms around her, and she snuggled into him, her heart pounding quickly. She listened to him shuffle as he got comfortable, and when he tilted her head up, she gave him a gentle kiss.

He seemed content with just this, but as he pulled back, she was overwhelmed with feelings. Feelings of love, and shame, and guilt, and happiness, and it was so much. She couldn't handle it. Couldn't believe she was this happy. She grabbed his hand, and gently guided it up her shirt. He looked at her, eyes wide, but didn't stop her. She leaned up, kissing him again.

"Are you sure about this?" he whispered when she pulled back. Her only answer was to roll on top of him, gazing down on his freckled face. He smiled.

"So this was your plan all along, huh?"

And she smiled. "Shut up."

*(*)

Two years later, Annie was outside in her backyard, gardening. It had never been something she thought she would enjoy, and she didn't do it often, but it did calm her down considerably, whenever her emotions ran high. She'd had a bad day. Some man had walked up and started hitting her, and when she'd turned him down, he'd grabbed her wrist.

So she'd flipped him, and walked off, back to her and Marco's new house, which was slowly starting to feel less new. He was inside, working on the nursery, and since dinner wasn't for a few more hours, she'd gone out into her garden, after he'd given her a kiss to make her feel better.

As she was pulling a weed, she heard their doorbell ring. Upstairs, Marco poked his head out, and looked down at her.

"Can you go get that?" he called down. "I'll be down in a second."

"Sure!" she called up, and slowly got up, putting her hand across her belly. She went to the front door, and before she even opened it, she could hear the people on the other side. She listened as their voices trickled in, and she stopped, her hand hovering over the doorknob. There were four of them. All boys. And she recognized each of their voices.

"Are you sure this is the right house?" That was Jean's voice. He was speaking a language she hadn't spoken in a long time.

"Positive. One or more of them are here." And that was Eren. She was positive. He knew she was here? How? But she knew the answer. Because even though it had only been a small feeling, because she'd long suppressed it, she could feel it too. Like she was searching for someone.

Did he know it was her though? And when he found out, what would he do?

"I thought I heard somebody coming." added another voice. Connie.

"Give them a minute." Armin. As kind and patient as ever.

"Annie?" that was Marco, coming up behind her. "Who is it? Are you alright?" he came over worriedly, but stopped when he too, heard the voices. For a few seconds, they just looked at each other, but his eyes quickly began to fill with tears, and suddenly, he was opening the door. Annie moved behind him.

"G-guys!?" Marco gasped, and they all looked back, gasping in surprise, even though they were the ones who had come for them.

"Marco!" Jean shouted, and she noticed that he and Eren were holding hands. So were Connie and Armin, actually. Jean and Marco embraced, and the other three boys quickly pushed in, joining in the hug. She could hear Marco crying, and she knew she was too.

Armin was the one who noticed her. She'd backed away, afraid she'd ruin it if they saw her. He gasped, looking at her in shock.

"Annie!?"

Instantly the other three boys looked over, and she waited, waiting for them to decide what they were going to do.

It was Eren, followed quickly by Armin, who ran to her, and threw his arms around her. She hugged him tightly, and opened her arms for Armin, smiling over their shoulders at Jean and Connie. Once she smiled, they seemed reassured, and quickly joined in the hug, Marco completing it.

"Wow Annie, you got fat!" Connie joked, and they all looked down at her big belly, which was carrying her and Marco's child.

"He's due pretty soon." she said with a smile, and Marco held her hand, proudly smiling at her.

"This I honestly hadn't expected." Eren said, laughing. "What's next? Levi and Mikasa?" They laughed, and she joined in, looking once more at Marco, and his beautiful freckled face. She was so glad she'd found him. And so glad they they had found her.

* * *

_I really wanted to write these two, so I'm glad I did. I just feel like they kind of work. Do I actually believe they'd get together in the real story? No way. But work with me here. At this point, I'm basically trying to surprise people with my pairings. The next one won't be too out there though. It's a relatively popular ship. I'm going to way enjoy writing it._


End file.
